US-based OEM, Great Dane, has announced that its Jonesboro and Huntsville branches have won 2021 Plant Safety Awards from the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association (TTMA).
Great Dane Jonesboro is the winning trailer manufacturing plant in Category A, with over 750,000-man hours, and Great Dane Huntsville won in Category B, 350,000-750,000-man hours.
Great Dane EVP of Manufacturing, Brian Sage, said it was a pleasure to receive the awards.
“We are very thankful to TTMA in recognising our two plants as the safest large and medium-sized trailer plants in the country,” he said.
“This takes the commitment of the entire team. Everyone has to be bought in and working together to create this culture.
“Jonesboro has won this award three times and Huntsville four times, which reflects the sustainability of the culture that has been created.”
Great Dane Jonesboro employs more than 400 people and went nearly 200 days without a recordable injury in 2021. The Huntsville branch employs more than 350 people, and went 365 days without a recordable injury or lost time incident in 2021.
“I could not be prouder of our teams for the commitment to our safety culture,” said Sage.
“In all the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, the rapid increase in sales, significant hiring, and a highly constrained supply base, we have never taken our eye off our most important priority: the safety of our team.”
The Jonesboro plant manufactures Great Dane’s Champion dry freight van, while the Huntsville plant manufactures the company’s Freedom flatbed series.
These plants have implemented many programs in an effort to keep safety as the top priority, including strong Behavioural Based Safety (BBS) programs and its company-wide safety initiative, the ‘Think Safety First’ program.
This is the third TTMA Plant Safety Award for Great Dane Jonesboro and the fourth award for Great Dane Huntsville.